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#7 Too illiterate to know the difference between 10 cents and 10 dollars? Too illiterate to punch in the numbers on a phone? Too illiterate to read traffic signs? Too illiterate to even pass a driving test? /rhet question.

#8 Bell became a charter city in about 2005 when a referendum passed mostly on absentee ballots, some of which were pretty sketchy (because very few people voted). Hernandez became mayor in about 2007-2008 and then also in about 2010. The voters overwhelmingly backed a recall in 2011 which removed some of the nefarious folk from office (including Hernandez).

#9 This...city council...do they:
Have access to the checkbook, and able to sign their own checks?
Able to figure in their withholding and other tax liabilities?
Many municiples have a balance system where any check over a certain amount must be reviewed by the county/city attorney, what is the balance system here?

Wiki; In July 2010, two Los Angeles Times reporters, Jeff Gottlieb and Ruben Vives, wrote an investigative journalism article on possible malfeasance in the neighboring city of Maywood, California. In their exposé, they revealed that the city officials of Bell (a small blue collar community) were receiving salaries that were reported as the highest in the nation. Subsequent investigations found atypically high property tax rates, allegations of voter fraud in municipal elections and other irregularities which heightened the ensuing scandal. These and other reports led to widespread criticism and a demand for city officials to resign.

There are still a few real reporters and news types instead of puppets and parrots.

#13 I know its obscene, but was it actually illegal?
They can change the law, but unless it was illegal at the time I don't see why this is even being prosecuted?
Gross injustice to the taxpayers, definitely.
Illegal???